US sees Russian hand in envoy's bugged call

Top US diplomat for Europe makes disparaging comments about the EU in leaked phone call about the Ukraine crisis.

07 Feb 2014 01:23 GMT

US officials have said they suspect Russia is behind the leak of an apparently bugged phone conversation about Ukraine between two senior American diplomats in which they make disparaging comments about the European Union.

The officials noted that an aide to Russian deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, was among the first to tweet about a YouTube video that contains audio of the alleged call between the top US diplomat for Europe, Victoria Nuland, and the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt.

I would say that since the video was first noted and tweeted out by the Russian government, I think it says something about Russia's role.

Jay Carney, White House spokesman

The video, which shows photos of Nuland and Pyatt, is subtitled in Russian.

In the audio, voices resembling those of Nuland and Pyatt discussinternational efforts to resolve Ukraine's ongoing political crisis. At one point, the Nuland voice colorfully suggests that the EU's position should be ignored.

"F--- the EU," the female voice said.

In the tweet, posted some seven hours before existence of the video became widely known on Thursday, the Rogozin aide, Dmitry Loskutov, said: "Sort of controversial judgment from Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland speaking about the EU."

White House spokesman Jay Carney pointed to the tweet and Russia's clear interest in what has become a struggle between pro-Moscow and pro-Western camps in the former Soviet Republic, but declined to comment on the source of the audio.

"I would say that since the video was first noted and tweeted out by the Russian government, I think it says something about Russia's role," Carney told a news conference.

He would not comment on the substance of the conversation, in which the Nuland and Pyatt voices also discuss their opinion of various Ukrainian opposition figures.

Apology made

A US State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to publicly discuss the matter, told the Associated Press news agency that it sounds like an authentic recording of a call that occurred last week.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that if the Russians were responsible for listening to, recording and posting a private diplomatic telephone conversation, it would be "a new low in Russian tradecraft".

Pressed on whether the call was authentic, Psaki said: "I didn't say it was inauthentic."

Psaki said Nuland "has been in contact with her EU counterparts and of course has apologised for these reported comments".'

The YouTube video was posted on February 4 and is titled the "Marionettes of Maidan" in Russian. Maidan is the name of the main square in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, which has become the centre of opposition protests.

It contains Russian-language subtitling of the conversation, raising suspicions that it was posted by a Russia-friendly source.